Sunday, June 22, 2008

This week I had a yen to stitch on Violet, the fourthsquare in the Cottage Garden set from CCN. Thepurple thread used in this, called Amethyst, is sucha pretty colour. I got quite a bit stitched on thisduring the week and am well on my way to finishingby next weekend. Baring distractions.

Meet the distractions. I put in an order at StitchingBit's n Bobs and it arrived on Friday.

1) I got my first Waxing Moon Designs charts andlove 'em. Thanks to Sue (Stitcher W) who stitched aWaxing Moon design during the Winter and was myintroduction to this wonderful design company.

2) Nicole (Carolina Dreams) was theperson to introduce me to Barbara and CherylPresent, who's vignettes of urban properties are solovely. Solid stitching but fairly easy stitching atthat. This one is really calling to me. Oh dear.

3) One of CCN's latest designs Joyfull Summer,which I've seen stitched already by several peoplearound the blog world, including Becky who justfinished hers a week ago. This is one prettydesign.

4) Continuing to build my collection ofLizzie Kate designs, and adding to my smallcollection of "season" sets is the Thinkseries. Very cute.

After a week of cool temperatures and rain off andon (usually when I'm leaving work and don't have anumbrella on me) the garden continues it's seasonalprogression. Our white silk lilac tree is at it's peaktoday and the scent is exquisite. Beneath it theSpirea bushes are putting out their pink flowers,which make a nice accent.

And here's a view of the stairs leading to the deck,where many of my pots are located. Everyone seemspretty happy and contented so far.

DH has been away since Wednesday for his annualtrip up to Temagami and the island cottage of afriend from church. A bunch of men from the churchgo up every year and have a mini vacation. They havea ball being "guys roughing it", eat lots of barbecue,swim if the weather allows, dodge black flies anddo odd jobs around the place to help out andearn their keep. I'm expecting him home sometimeearly this evening, dragging a bag of dirty laundry,in need of a shower, and covered in bug bites. Ican't wait. :)

Friday night, after work, I made my way to downtownToronto to meet my friend Charmaine, who wastreating me to a night at the symphony at RoyThompson Hall (interior pictured above) as a birthdaygift.

But not just any night at the symphony. Thisperformance featured the music of Star Trek, andwas being narrated by it's two special guest hostsJohn De Lancie and Robert Picardo.

Music from most of the movies, and all of the tvseries (except Enterprise) was performed, andin between the two actors told a bit of the historyof Star Trek, and added anecdotes from theirown personal associations with the series. It wasso wonderful to hear the movie and tv themesperformed live, and to see two favourite actors fromthe series on stage, kibitzing together. And ofcourse a fair number of people in the audienceshowed up dressed for the occasion in uniform/costume. And there were, of course, Klingons.

I finished reading Fingersmith on Thursday andneeded a nice light read which I could carry inmy purse on Friday during my commute to workin the morning, and my trip into Toronto afterwork in the evening. I'd picked up this CharlaineHarris book on sale a while ago, and it fit the billperfectly.

This is the first installment of a differentseries from the SookieStackhouse vampire books.It's a mystery series featuring Harper Connelly who,after being struck by lightening as a teenager, hasthe ability to locate dead bodies and "see" how theperson has died. Harper and her manager/assistantToliver (who's also her step-brother) travel thecountry, hired by their clients to find the remains ofmissing people. It's a light read, with humor andlots of colourful characters.

Lynn asked how Rupert gets to the top of the clock.Well, he jumps onto the dining room table, leapsfrom there to the top of the hutch (which shuddersand sways alarmingly when he does it) and fromthere it's a short step, kind of, to the top of theclock. If I see him making the attempt I try to stophim, but he's pretty sneaky about it.

Sounds like a thunderstorm is coming up so I'dbest finish this post and get off the computer.Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

I've started a new project. It's one of those lovely designsfrom My Aunt's Attic, where all those amazing free designsare on offer to whoever wants them. Once again I'm usingred thread (DMC #304) and it's being stitched on 32 countLambswool....I think. This is roughly one weeks work,usually done in the evenings on our front stoop, torelax and get some air after a long day.

And remember I said that I'd been addicted to Ebay in lastweeks post?? Well, here are the results, so far. I'm thrilledwith the Lizzie Kate designs here. They are so cute, and socolourful. The Bent Creek is a bit too primitive for my tastebut came with the lot. Perhaps I'll pass it on to someoneelse who likes this style of design. Note: that's Rupert's earto the left of the picture. I barely snapped the photo in time.

These two designs were also a part of the package. I lovedesigns which show the change of seasons, so the one onthe right is great for that. The Chessie & Me chart is apretty house design, with lots of fancy stitches.

And this is my monthly bits from Stitching Bits n Bobs.More beautiful Crescent Colours to sigh over, and keepaway from Rupert.

Yesterday I had the privilege of being invited to a dancerecital being put on by one of our local dance studios.Little Naomi, from across the street, was participatingin her first dance recital and asked me to join them. Iwas delighted to do so. I've never been to one of thesethings before, and was quite impressed with the levelof professionalism. The event ran like clockwork.

Naomi, aged 6, is in her first year of ballet. I wish Icould show you the pictures of her in her white tulledress, trimmed in pink and silver, with her hair in abun, and white tights. She looked adorable.

The dancing was wonderful to watch. The teenagegirls were amazing, so graceful and poised. Thetweenage girls were also amazing to watch, whetherthey were tap dancing or doing a type of gymnastic/dance combo. And the little ones....well, I'm sure youcan just imagine.

Clustered on the stage, somewhat bewildered anda little directionally challenged, but always sweetand adorable, they bounced on their toes,waved their arms and ran around in almostcircles. Their teacher just off stage prompting andencouraging when necessary.

The audience full of proud parents, relatives andfriends provided enthusiastic applause and shoutsof delight as each dance was performed. I was soglad that I got to go and see it.

After one week I am amazed at the growth in my pots.The past week was mostly moderate temperatures andwe had some heavy rains on Friday night, and a fewsprinkles throughout the week which kept things wellwatered without too much effort required on our part.It's not going to be too hot next week so things shouldcontinue to be stress free for the garden. The weatherforecasters are predicting a hot summer, but so far wehave only had five days of muggy weather to tolerate.

Here's one of my straw flowers. These are strange butwonderful plants for the garden. I have three coloursin my pots this year. Red, Yellow and White. Theflowers are great because they change appearance asthey grow so you always have a mix of blooms indifferent stages of growth and bloom. No fragranceto them but that's okay. Other plants can provide that.The odd, straw like texture of the flowers is alwaysa surprise for someone not familiar with the plant.

And this is my current read. Another recommendationfrom Jaimie's book blog, and Barbara has read this onetoo. Both enjoyed it immensely, and though just halfway through it at this point myself, I too am enjoying it.It's the sort of Victorian drama that hints at what oneof the Bronte sisters might write, with a hint of theworld that Dickens wrote so eloquently about as well.There's thieves and rogues and an oppressed heiress,and a dank, brooding manor house, and twists andturns which keep you guessing. Lots of well researchedperiod detail and language to make the story comealive in your imagination. I'm loving it!

Rupert's been full of beans this morning. If he keeps itup Phoebe is apt to tackle him and teach him a few manners.Here he is "mountain climbing" at breakfast time.

Happy Father's Day!! To my own Dad who is always withme in spirit, and to all the other dads out there in blog land.Hope you all have a wonderful day.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Last evening I finished Rose in my on going project CottageGarden. I know this is taking me forever to stitch, which isfrustrating because these are quite simple to stitch, but thereare so many things to do these days, and only so many hoursin the day to do them in. And I'm not a fast stitcher.

But I love this square, both for it's wonderful, rich colourbut also because of the little details in the design that charmme. The little fence around the house is so sweet, and thetwo birds are a nice change from bugs. All pictures areclickable for closeups if you wish.

And during my holidays two weeks ago I made a newstart. I've had my eye on this project for awhile nowand decided vacation was as good an excuse as any tobegin something new. But this project is not goingas well as I'd hoped, mainly because of problems withthe chart.

To begin with, the lightest colour in the girls hair isnot listed in the colour key. So I've made an educatedguess about what it should be, which I'm not terriblyimpressed with now that I've stitched one side. ButI'm not ripping it out now.

I also don't like the way the designs in this book (Sweet and Simple Country Cross Stitch - Lori Gardner) are coded. Little wee squares of colour,which you have to translate from the chart tothe list of thread colours below. Some of thosecolours look similar in shade but in reality aredifferent colours entirely, so it's hard to knowwhich one you're suppose to use. (is that a lightshade of beige or is that a light shade of yellow?)I've been stewing over the colours in the girl's hat,trying to decide which colour the flower is supposeto be. Grrrr.... Don't know if I'll keep working onthis one or not.

Last weekend was cool, damp and very windy. We didn'tspend too much time outdoors because of that. Thisweekend Summer arrived with a vengeance and during thepeak period of the afternoon it's too hot and humid to beoutside. Very frustrating. But my pots are doing well,and the garden in general seems to like the coolertemperatures and of course the rain. I'm takingpictures regularly to record their stages of growth overthe summer and to help me remember for next summerwhat worked best this summer.This is the edge of the deck, with a corner of the stairsshowing. The blue pot is new and I've filled it withpink Petunias, which look wonderful in it. We pickedup our hanging baskets yesterday too and have gotthose hanging around the deck and garden. This isthe best time of year for the garden, before the bugsand the heat take their toll on everything.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes. It mademe feel good to hear from all of you. I received twobouquets of flowers on the actual day, including theone above from my god-parents with flowers of red,pink and white that were so lovely together.

And this bouquet came from my friend Charmaine and herfamily. It's bright, cheery colours of yellow and white nestledin a white basket were exquisite. And I'm not the only onewho thought so.

Behold the Phee.....after I'd had a seniors moment andthoughtlessly left the yellow flowers on the kitchen counterafter watering them one day. DH found her with her faceburied in the blooms. Fortunately she was just sniffing atthat point so didn't get sick on them, but she did get hernose and ruff covered in neon yellow pollen, which tookseveral days to wear off. Well, it does match her eyes.

I've been sucked into the wonderful world of Ebay in thepast few weeks and have won some lovely stash. But ohmy goodness that place is addictive!! I've got to reinmyself in and try not to get carried away with it all. Which is easier said then done. I got a huge pile ofcharts, some of which I love and some not so much,and I'm waiting for some threads and some LizzieKate charts to arrive, which I'm really excited about.

I've been reading of course, and finished KelleyArmstrong's latest novel Personal Demon, which wasa wonderful romp and read as usual. Sexy, funny andenthralling are apt descriptions of her style of writingand I'm a huge admirer of hers.

Had a movie weekend last weekend, and my friendDarlene and I saw two from our list of movies-to-seethis summer. The latest Indiana Jones movie, whichwas lots of fun, and the latest Narnia movie which Ialso enjoyed. I think I like this one better then thefirst.

Indy was great but it probably ranks third outof all of them for me. Raiders was best, and Crusadecame a close second. Harrison Ford hasn't lost histouch, looks as handsome as ever, and can stillbuckle his swash with the best of 'em. Wonderfulto see Karen Allen back again too. She shouldhave been in all of the movies, start to finish.

I've got visits to blogs and commenting to catchup on, after getting behind during the past coupleof weeks. I'll be around soon to see what you'veall been up to.